In this modern day of convenience packaging, more and more effort is being put into attempting to package in a form which is convenient and economical and which meets requirements for the particular item being packaged.
In the packaging of surgical sutures, it is necessary that the sutures be released in sterile condition, ready for use by the surgeon with the economic requirement that the packaging be as economical as consistent with requirements.
An acceptable package needs to be inexpensive and completely reliable. The package must release a sterile suture for the surgeon's use with his positive knowledge that the suture is, in fact, sterile and none of its design characteristics have been compromised during storage prior to use. Sutures may be stored in hospitals for several years before use, although the usual storage time is much shorter.
There are many sizes of sutures, and many materials of construction, such as catgut, or polyglycolic acid for absorables, and non-absorbables of silk, cotton, nylon, dacron, polyethylene, polypropylene, stainless steel, insulated stainless steel, and other materials of construction. There are several different needle types in common use, including pointed straight, pointed curved, three cornered straight, three cornered curved, both regular and reverse, and needles with side cutting edges of various types. The variations and combinations of each of these to meet the preferences of many surgeons for different operative procedures means that a suture manufacturer needs to supply different suture combinations running into the thousands. Some of these are fast moving items, others meet only with occasional demand. For purposes of convenience and storage in the hospital as well as economy of manufacture, it is highly desirable that as many suture combinations as feasible be packaged in a minimum number of different package styles and shapes and storage units. It is quite common to package three dozen identical sutures in a box. It is convenient to have most of the boxes about the same size and shape, so that the hospital may store them most conveniently. It is also convenient from the manufacturer's standpoint to be able to reduce his inventory of box sizes and to be able to use the same components for the maximum number of suture combinations in the product line.
It is essential that a package for a side cutting needle; that is, a needle which has a sharp edge on the side, protect the suture from contact with the sharp side, or armed edge, of the needle which could partially cut the suture and to avoid having the sharp edges cut the package. Also, the armed needle edges need to be protected so as to maintain their sharpness.
Additionally, it is highly desirable that the needles and sutures be oriented in a consistent relationship within packages so that the using surgeon, directly, or the nurse who passes the sutures to the surgeon, will be able to rapidly and reliably grip the needle without having to check orientation between packages of the same or different suture materials or needles.
Most of the suture packages today are strippable, double envelope packages of the type first disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,043,067, Rynkiewicz and Ayres, "Suture Package", July 10, 1962.
The outer envelope and certain details are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,949,181, Buccino, "Suture Package And Process Of Making Same", Aug. 16, 1960.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,550, Holmes and Murphy, "Combination Reel And Label For Surgical Sutures", Dec. 12, 1967, shows a system in which the reel also serves as a label with the reel being torn apart to release the suture wound on the label.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,973, Granowitz and Buccino, "Package For Surgical Sutures", Apr. 9, 1968, shows a molded plastic reel fitting in a hub for surgical sutures with the assembled reel, hub and suture being packaged in outer envelopes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,475, Orcutt, "Surgical Needles And Manufacture Of Same", June 12, 1962, shows certain forms of surgical needles, including curved, triangular shaped needles with the edges being sharp or round and which sharp side edges can damage sutures or packages.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,150, Riall, "Cutting Edge Suture Needle", July 1, 1958, shows another type of side cutting needle, the sharp edges of which can damage sutures or packages.